BSens tame Bears in shootout

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wbng sports

February 22, 2013Updated Feb 22, 2013 at 11:48 PM EST

Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) The Binghamton Senators returned home tonight and came away with a shootout win, 5-4, against the Hershey Bears at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. This marks the second-straight win for the B-Sens, and the team is now 2-for-2 in shootouts versus the Bears this season.

Hershey forward Jeff Taffe kicked off the scoring for the Bears as he slipped one past Nathan Lawson at 10:43 in the first with assists from Patrick McNeill and Steven Oleksy. As the period appeared to come to a close, Darren Kramer tallied his first goal of the season at 19:02 to tie the score at one. Only 37 seconds later, Wacey Hamilton put the B-Sens on top with the help of Brett Lebda and Louie Caporusso, sending the B-Sens into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.

Most the second period was spent in the Hershey zone. The lone goal put the B-Sens up, 3-1, as Cole Schneider rang his seventh goal of the season on the power play at 2:40, courtesy of Stephane Da Costa and Lebda. Both Binghamton and Hershey would tally nine shots on goal during the period.

Marc Cheverie took over in net to start the third period, and Hershey started to take control. The Bears pulled within one at 7:19 on a Peter LeBlanc shot from Barry Almeida and Garrett Mitchell, making it 3-2. Less than a minute later, Dustin Gazley capitalized on a shorthanded rush with Jean-Gabriel Pageau, notching his first on the year and bringing the B-Sens lead back to two at the 8:04 mark, 4-2. Hershey answered right back 19 seconds later on the power play on Taffe’s second of the night from McNeill at 8:23, pulling within one. Jon DiSalvatore evened the score, 4-4, at the 13:14 mark with help of Casey Wellman and McNeill.

With no team leading at the end of regulation and a full overtime period, the game went into a shootout. Da Costa put the B-Sens up in the first round, which proved to be the game winner. Caporusso put the game out of reach with a blast in the fourth round. Lawson saved 22 of 23 shots through two periods, and Cheverie finished the game making 12 saves on 15 shots in the third and overtime periods. Dany Sabourin halted 35 of 39 shots for the Bears through regulation and overtime.

The B-Sens return to action on Saturday as they host the Albany Devils. Game time is 7:05 p.m.